After a week of sometimes interesting artistic choices and experiments, Jules Rivera has returned to her standard stock-in-trade of presenting ill-formed figures and objects, barely defined settings, and dull panel layouts. Also noteworthy is the continual change in coloring of medals and ribbons, to say nothing of Cliff’s chameleon sweat suit.

Regarding the story, itself, we are still in a segue stage, where nothing much is happening except for a few days spent being suspicious of Tad Crass. In itself, that is probably merited, given his track record. What is surprising is that Mark’s internal BS Monitor didn’t start buzzing from the get-go when Cliff called with the invitation. Mark could have done some online research, as he did when he was assigned to cover the manatee rescue in Florida (Manatee Calamity!) and interview the Hog Hunting Heroines (Women, Rifles, and Hogs).

So, yes, Mark. There is definitely something to be suspicious about. Will this have anything to do with mistreatment of natural resources? If not, just enjoy the free stuff while it lasts, hope the return flight tickets are still valid, and that you will actually get any prize money you won.